A copy of the Message translation of the Bible was more than a spiritual lifesaver for a Dayton, Ohio bus driver.
49-year-old Rickey Waggoner, a driver for the Dayton Regional Transit Authority, had been working on his bus when he was approached by three youths. The youths shot Waggoner in the chest at point blank range.
However, a copy of the Message Bible that Waggoner had in his pocket stopped both of the bullets. Police say the Bible saved Waggoner’s life.
While not specifically attributing the act to divine will, a Dayton police officer said there had to be something special that happened for the bus driver.
“There was obviously some kind of intervention involved in this incident because he should probably not be here,” Dayton Police Sergeant Michael Pauley told the Dayton Daily News.
Police believe the attack was a gang initiation because Waggoner reported one of the youths said “if you want to be all the way in the club” to the one who pulled the trigger.
The man who created the Message translation, Eugene Peterson, said that he had heard of similar incidents in World War II where Bibles stopped bullets.
“It’s good to be in the club,” Peterson told Fox News.
A Mississippi pastor is giving all credit to God that none of his youth members were killed when the floor beneath them collapsed during a worship service.
The second floor of an activity center at the Freedom Baptist Church in Myrick, Mississippi collapsed last night during a youth worship service. At least 70 students fell through the collapsed floor when it gave way.
“We heard a huge rumble and the floor collapsed and people came with it,” Tori Hodge, 18, told a local newspaper. “Everybody heard it. The floor started crumbling and waving. People started falling through the ceiling, just like you’d see in a movie.”
At least 35 students were injured including one that was taken to the hospital after she struck her head. Emergency personnel said that most of the students suffered cuts and bruises although a few were suspected to have broken bones.
Pastor Tommy Davis said it was only by God’s hand that none of the students were seriously injured or killed.
“God’s hand was certainly taking care of the kids who were in that building,” Pastor Davis told a local newspaper.
The city of Buffalo, New York is being hit with “Mass Mobs”.
However, this new breed of flash mob is actually blessing those they target.
The “Mass Mob” votes online for a specific older Catholic church in the area for Sunday worship. The mob then swarms that church in the morning, worshipping with regular attenders, admiring the architecture of the old cathedrals and providing the churches with a much needed boost in support.
Many of the churches have fallen over the last century from thousands in attendance each week to in some cases less than 50. The founder of the “mob” says the idea is to expose area Catholics to new congregations and churches in a hope of sparking a revival.
“I call these churches faith enhancers,” Christopher Byrd told the Associated Press. “You can’t help but walk in and feel closer to a higher power.”
Byrd hopes that churches that “fall off the radar screen of people” will again be seen as viable houses of worship.
A Birmingham, Alabama brain surgeon is being hailed as a hero after he defied the harsh winter storm that shut down the town to answer the call for an emergency.
Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw received a call while attending patients at Brookwood Medical Center that he was needed miles away at Trinity Medical Center for emergency surgery. Dr. Hrynkiw is the only brain surgeon on staff for Trinity Medical Center.
The neurosurgeon rushed to his car and attempted to drive to the other hospital only to find he was trapped a few blocks away by abandoned cars and traffic because of the massive snowstorm that blanketed the city.
So the doctor called Trinity on his fading cell phone and said that he would be walking.
The charge nurse at Trinity called local police to have them on the lookout for the doctor but despite a few reported sightings no one was able to find him. Hours later, the doctor called from inside the hospital after making the over 6-mile trek.
Dr. Hrynkiw rushed to the family’s side to get health information and then rushed in to complete the surgery for a traumatic brain injury. Hospital officials say that the patient would have most likely died if it wasn’t for the doctor arriving when he did to perform the surgery.
A group of fifth grade football players decided enough was enough when they heard their waterboy was being bullied at school.
The waterboy, Danny Keefe, attends first grade. He had a brain hemorrhage after he was born that hampers his ability to speak. He likes to wear a suit and tie to school every day and it was a subject of derision from classmates.
The players on the fifth grade football team at Mitchell Elementary School heard that classmates were bullying Danny. Instead of just acting like it didn’t happen and focusing on sports, the team took a completely different tact.
The entire team dressed up one day in suits and ties and rallied around Danny all day.
“He’s such a good person. He doesn’t let it bother him. He goes on with his day. He’s a 6-year-old kid. We should all respect that,” quarterback Tommy Cooney, 11, told WCVB. He organized what he called “Danny Appreciation Day.”
One player said it was much more than just a one day rally.
“The coach calls us a band of brothers,” 11-year-old Jimmy Peterson said. “He’s one of us.”
A Texas city’s mayor is drawing fire after he declared 2014 the “Year of the Bible” in his city.
Tom Hayden, the mayor of Flower Mound, Texas, made the declaration at last month’s city council meeting. Hayden told reporters that he had been considering the declaration for two years because he wants his community to connect through the Bible.
“The morality that helped build our country is based on the values that are found in the Bible,” Hayden told Fox News. “And as we look at problems, maybe we’re getting away from those values. And in my little small way, I want to encourage people to get back into those values.”
Hayden hopes to encourage residents to join together in reading the Bible in its entirety in 2014.
While some residents are critical of the Mayor’s move, it is not without precedent. President Ronald Reagan made a similar declaration in 1983.
It will be a very merry Christmas for Nome Covenant Church.
The church in a town of under 4,000 where the average temperature stays well below zero is on the far reaches of the Alaskan frontier. The church met in a building that was 75 years old and was literally being held together by cables.
The church’s pastor lived in fear of the church collapsing.
“Our old church was 75 years old, it was built with available materials at that time,” Pastor Harvey Fiskeaux told Fox News. “I was actually fearful it was going to fall in.”
The church found an outpouring of Christian love from Samaritan’s Purse, the Christian humanitarian organization known most for their Operation Christmas Child outreach.
The group flew 140 volunteers from all over the country to help the church build a brand new church and outreach center next door to the old church building.
“As a church we are there to help the infrastructure of family, children, and youth,” said Fiskeaux. “We are trying to help people’s lives.”
A New York police officer is being hailed after literally giving the shirt off his back.
Officer Carlos Ramos, a member of the NYPD transit bureau’s anti-terrorism unit, was searching for suspicious packages or activity in Manhattan when he found a homeless man shivering and ripping up his T-shirt to wrap his bare feet.
The man, Robert William, had gotten his boots wet on a morning with temperatures well below freezing.
Ramos took off his sweatshirt and handed it to the man so he could warm up. Police officials say it’s not the first time the 29-year-old has taken extra steps to help those in need in the community.
“I’ve helped out other people, especially when it’s cold,” Officer Ramos told the New York Daily News. “A nice cup of coffee, a tea, whatever seems appropriate… always wanted to help those that need help, protect the city, protect the country.”